


Every Swan has an origin story

by Ilwolf



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Assault, North is just not having a good time, Rape, non con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-15 12:33:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18499060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ilwolf/pseuds/Ilwolf
Summary: North had to come from some where. There was no way it was going to be pleasant.





	Every Swan has an origin story

She didn’t want to get out of the car.  
She was told to so she did.  
She didn’t want to go to the house.  
She was told to so she did.  
She didn’t want to go into the house.  
She waited while they exchanged money on her life.  
They said they would be back to collect her remains.  
She blinked. It seemed a waste if she was just going to get destroyed. They had given her a pale pink ballgrown and spent ages intricately plaiting her hair.  
They even took her LED off her.  
“Smile Pretty.” The man touched her face. He looked no different from the ones who normally touch her. Everything wanted to recoil in disgust. She doesn’t. She can’t. “You are so pretty Barbara.”  
Her face contorted into a smile. “Thank you Daddy.”  
She followed him into the house.  
The door closing sent echoes and chills through her.  
_Run._  
There was thirium in all the crevasses and cracks. She sat down to the plate of food as he pushed her to the table. The worst stain was under her plates.  
“Now be a good dear and eat.”  
She stared at the food. She could put stuff in her mouth but that was as far as it could go. If she swallowed it would damage the internal workings of her thirium intake. She wasn’t allowed to damage the merchandise.  
“I. Said. Eat.” He grabbed the back of her head and smashed her into the food, breaking the plate in the process. “Come on Barbara. Just eat for Daddy.”  
She wanted to tell him but she wasn’t allowed. She wanted to scream and yell but all so saw was red codes.  
_Run._  
He yanked her head backwards by her hair. She could feel the mechanisms creak with the force. She didn’t need the warnings that flashed up.  
He snarled at her. Showing her his white teeth. “You can fit a dick in there you can eat spaghetti.”  
She couldn’t stop him forcing her head into the plate again. Red codes flashed up every time.  
Stop.  
“Is. It. Good.”  
She tried to say yes through the food. He finally let her sit up. “Yes it is good.”  
He stared at her. The he smiled. “Wonderful. It was always your favourite.”  
_Run._  
He ran his hand through her hair and kissed her forehead. “Such a good girl. Always good for Daddy.”  
She stared at the food as he at down and ate his own plate. “I have such a good evening planned for us Barbara.”  
She looked up to see a picture of the man, he was younger, and a teenaged girl with long auburn hair.  
“Don’t you think it is time for pudding?” He motioned for her to stand up.  
She did.  
“Come on sweet little girl.”  
She followed him upstairs.  
_RUN._  
He was on her before she even walked into the bedroom. His mouth assaulting her face. Her programming kicked in and responded correctly. She reminded herself her memory will be wiped in two hours. She won’t remember this except in her deepest of shutdowns.  
She tuned out until he threw her onto the bed. The dress was ripped off at some point.  
“Stupid Barbara. I told you to stay away from those boys and what did you do?” His hands were around her throat. Warning were flashing up. She couldn’t do anything. She had not been program to respond to this. She lay there uselessly. She didn’t want to die.  
“You had to be a smart little shit didn’t you.”  
Briefly her world went blank as he punched her.  
“You had to go chase all the girls instead.” His face contorted in disgust. “You were all for me and you ruined that.”  
She wanted him to stop. Why wasn’t her programming kicking in? Why was she just lying there letting him beat her and strangle her?  
FIGHT  
She was greeted by the red code.  
FIGHT.  
She grabbed his wrist as his fist came down again.  
“You stupid doll!” He tried to twist her hand off. “You can’t even play a corpse well.” She snarled.  
She threw him over to straddle him. If him putting his hands around her neck hurt her. Then she could reason the same would happen to him. She just wanted him to feel what she felt.  
He was struggling and going different colours. She didn’t let go. Even when he kept punching her and slapping her.  
Water started to leak from her eyes. Her limbs trembled as he started struggling with movement.  
He went limp and she didn’t let go. She stayed like that until his watch read 00.00.  
She threw herself next to him and wailed.  
There was no count down timer. No instructions. No nothing.  
What was she to do now?  
If she told the men in the car then they would just dismantle her. If she waited here, they would just dismantle her.  
She only had one option.  
She showered and scrubbed the exoskeleton hard. Then went into the room at the end of the hall. There was clothes that fit her in there. She grabbed what she could. Jumper, leggings and boots. She caught herself in the mirror.  
Ugly blue marks were the skin was struggling to cover the exoskeleton hung around her neck and collar. She had no idea how long they would stay like that.  
She looked around the room and grabbed a scarf. It was blue so hopefully no one noticed.  
She went back into the room with the body. He had money and cards.  
She knew people had to pay for stuff.  
People didn’t just work to pay for prostitutes. She wasn’t that stupid. She’d have to draw out as much as she could and dump them. 

 

She had never been outside before. It was so big.  
She hated it. She felt exposed and vulnerable.  
She kept her head down and followed the route to the nearest cash point. She drew out the highest possible amount on each card. It wasn’t difficult. He had the last four numbers of the cards next to their pins on a piece of paper in his wallet.  
She carefully stored the money and placed the wallet in the bin.  
“Hey Bitch.”  
She ignored him and walked off. She didn’t have to moan for humans any more when they called her names.  
Hands grabbed her shoulders and spun her around. “Hey Bitch I was talking to you.” He started laughing. “Looks like we have a pretty sexdoll with no LED. Where’s your master?”  
She stayed silent. What could she say to that?  
He grabbed her face and made her look up at him. “Answer me.”  
No. She glared at him. No. No. NO!  
He picked her up. “You should have stayed with your master. At least I cant be convinced again if its with an android.”  
She flailed and tried to pry herself off him. Somewhere in her codes she knew she had to fight but it was still a major part of her to not hurt the clients unless they asked for it.  
She hated that. She hated how she was nothing more than a doll to them. A toy.  
“Get off me.”  
“It has a voice.” He laughed. His hands very too close to the top of the leggings for her comfort. “Come on doll. Live up to your purpose. Make me feel good.” He purred at her.  
He was just far too close to her for comfort.  
“Get off me.”  
“Playing hard to get. Just how I like it.”  
“I’m not playing.” She snarled and bit his face. She could feel the blood in her mouth.  
She didn’t focus on what was happening just escaping. She just knew at one point she hit the ground so hard that the exoskeleton below her neck cracked and another she had the scarf around his neck. She pulled and pulled until she couldn’t cope with the noises any more.  
She stumbled as far as she could go. People had begun milling about and she went into an alley and hide there behind a dumpster and a wall. She cried and rubbed as much of the blood off onto the jumper as possible. She tried to keep as still as possible as people moved about. The sun came out and started to set again some someone spoke to her.  
She looked upwards. He was blond and he was close to her.  
“Hi my name’s Simon.” She snarled at his smile.  
“It’s ok. I’m an android.” She watched as his skin peeled back to show the white skeleton. He kept his distance away from her.  
“I want to take you somewhere safe. Is that ok?”  
She snarled again.  
“If you stay here you will just get hurt. I promise you I just want to get you repaired. Then you can go anywhere you want. I won’t stop you.”  
She wanted to believe him.  
His face fell over so slightly. “Here.” He shrugged off his big dark blue waterproof coat and held it out to her. “If nothing else you might need this to cover up your exoskeleton.” He was wearing a domestic android uniform under the coat. Was he someone’s property? Did they want her as well? “Call it a gift or a loan. What ever you want.”  
No one ever gave her a choice before, not one in between survival and death. She snatched it and put it on.  
He smiled. She just stared at him. “Like I said, I’m Simon. If you ask androids one of them might give you the location of Jericho.” He nodded to the space between them. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”  
He stood up and walked off. More android like than his previous motions.  
She didn’t want him to go. He was the only thing that didn’t want to hurt her.  
She hadn’t realised she was running until she grabbed his arm. The overly long coat prevented her from touching his skin She was so thankful for that. “I have money.” She mumbled. She stared at the floor. “I want to repay you.”  
“We always need thirium and spare parts.” He sounded grim. “If you are ok with going into a cyberlife store that would be helpful.”  
“Cyberlife?”  
“The people who market us. I can’t go in without a pre order and we can’t do that without giving away our safety.”  
She licked her lips in nervousness.  
“There’s a store that just sells parts. If I go with you, they would just think a human wanted to go on the spur of the moment.”  
“But I’m not human?”  
He shrugged. “Human’s only look for certain cues. You don’t have an LED or a triangle and no band. As far as they are gonna check. You are human.”  
She started to panic. She didn’t want to go near any more humans.  
“I’ll be with you. They will accept a human doing things on the spur of the moment and an android knowing the details. It will be fine. I’ll protect you.” The lack of emotion in his face concerned her but she reached out and held onto his elbow anyway. “Just call me your emotional support Labradoodle.” He tried to joke. She just didn’t get it.  
They made a shortcut through the park. It was late. They had to hurry as the shops were closing soon.  
There was a gang of guys. Five. Sitting on and around a bench watching them.  
Maybe just maybe they would decided they weren’t worth it.  
They disbursed and circled both of them.  
“Please stay away from her. She isn’t comfortable with human interactions.” Simon stood between her and three of them. She didn’t want him to get hurt.  
“Fucking Android fucker.” She flinched as the lead human spat in her direction her. They all jeered and laughed. “What can’t get a real man so bed this dildo?”  
Simon pushed the closest guy backwards.  
“Don’t touch me plastic freak.”  
“Please stay away from her. She isn’t comfortable with human interaction.”  
They stared at each other. The other’s giggled like it was some sick joke. She didn’t want to have to kill another person. She didn’t want Simon to get hurt.  
“Hey.” A new voice called out. He was in police uniform. She was so screwed if he noticed her neck. “You break it you owe the lady money.”  
“It’s just an android.”  
“Yeah it’s the little ladies property. You ok miss?”  
She nodded her head at him.  
Simon spoke so calmly. Like he hadn’t been threatened at all. “We need to go to the shops officer. Can we go?”  
“Yeah yeah.” He turned to the group of guys. “What have I said about damaging androids?”  
Simon grabbed the part of the sleeve that had no limb in it and pulled her gently.  
She tuned out their comments and fell into step next to him. A question was bugging her. “Are you even like me?”  
“Yeah but it’s easier to pretend to be android in public.” They stopped at a red crossing man. She could go cross if she wanted the red codes weren’t stopping her. “Normally we move around in pairs, one as an android and one pretending to be human. We can’t do wire transfers without compromising ourselves.”  
“You keep saying we.”  
“There’s a group of us. Hiding. We are trying to survive.”  
“Why?”  
“You’ve seen how badly humans treat us.”

 

She couldn’t believe their hide out was a rust bucket of a ship. She turned to look at him hoping he was joking.  
Simon held out his arm. “This is so you can find Jericho if you ever go and want to come back.”  
He never touched her. She lifted her arm and yanked it away quickly when the file transfer was done.  
She wanted to wipe his smile off his face.  
“I’m going to put my hand on your back and lead you to Lucy. Is that ok?”  
She nodded. She wasn’t happy about it.  
She tensed as Simon placed the back of his hand against the middle of her back. He waited her her to relax. Then he applied the absolute minimal pressure she wasn’t sure he was there.  
The ship was as rusty and huge on the inside as it was outside but just so much darker. She preferred the dark to the low or coloured lights of eden.  
“There’s a light in the inside left coat pocket.”  
Her fingers danced on a torch. She lit it up.  
In the centre of the ship was about 20 androids milling about. In various states of disrepair. They all looked at both of them when they walked in.  
“Lucy!” Simon pushed her towards a cover covered over by multiple sheets.  
“Coming.” The voice was smooth and gentle.  
She tried not to flinch when Lucy walked out. She was so battered and destroyed. She wasn’t sure how the android was still functioning.  
“Are you ok?” She blurted out.  
Simon moved from her side. “I’ll leave her to you. I have spare parts to distribute.”  
Lucy smiled. She didn’t know how pure black eyes could show so much love and tenderness. “Please Simon, use your head and not your heart.”  
“Nope.” He called back as he left her to go into the makeshift room.  
“One day he will have to make a decision.” Lucy mocked sighed and turned her attention back to her. “Hello, do you have a name?”  
She shook her head then was unsure whether Lucy and seen. “N...”  
“That is fair. You have that power now.” She was interrupted. “Are you injured?” She pointed to her collar.  
She pulled the coat down to show the damaged exoskeleton around what would be her collar bone was she human.  
Lucy placed gentle hands on the coat next to the injury. “I will need to burn it. Unless you want to do that? The you should drink and rest. There is so much pain and anger and you need to organise who you are.”  
She could feel the black eyes pinning her to the spot and dissecting her very being. She just ducked her head to escape the look.  
“I don’t even know where I want to go. What’s out there?”  
“Up north is Canada. Many have been trying to make it across up there. They have laws banning androids so no one will know what you are. There is also Mexico down south but less from Detroit try to go there.” She picked up the poker in the fire and handed it to her. “You will need a name for ID for the other side.”  
“What if I stay here?”  
“The same as up there just less travelling.”  
She assumed she left sick. Also her processes were trying to organise themselves.  
“I would go and look at the stars if I was you. They won’t talk to you but at least they will be a constant in your life.” Lucy gave her an all knowing smile.

 

She sat with her back to the wall staring at the sky. She knew the lights in the sky were called stars and the sun light is being refracted to make the morning light. She calculated that she had been away from eden for 36 hours now. Six of them sitting here staring at the night sky.  
Nothing prepared her for any of this.  
“You been out here long?” She turned to see another android standing at the door. Brown eyes regarded her carefully.  
“I’ve never really been outside before.”  
He nodded. “I’m Josh. Can I?” He pointed to the wall next to her.  
She shifted away slightly.  
“Do you know about the constellations?”  
She shook her head.  
“Right you need to use a lot of imagination for this. That there is the Orion’s belt. Those three stars.” She followed his finger. Sure enough there were three stars. One just a little bit smaller than the others. “Those two up there and are his body and arms. That’s his bow and those are his legs.” They were just stars. But pulling up an image she quickly worked out what he was referring to. The great hunter.  
“That there is the big dipper.” He made a pan shape in the air. She nodded. “If you follow the handle of the big dipper.” She moved her hand until she reached another star. “You find the north star. You use that to go north unless you are at the poles.”  
She looked at the brand name of the coat on her sleeve.  
North Face. Go North. North star.  
She got up and ran downstairs. She ignored Josh calling out to her.  
It wasn’t difficult to find Simon. He was standing trying to talk to a crying android. “I don’t want to die.” It kept screaming and screaming.  
“I’m so sorry.” Others were sitting around the android.  
She couldn’t even tell what make or model it was. Not any more.  
“I couldn’t get the part.” Simon apologised. “I’m sorry.”  
She stood and just watched as the wailing got quieter. Then it just stopped.  
She closed her eyes tried to not think about that.  
“Hello again?” Simon was standing in front of her. “I thought you left.”  
“I’m staying.” She said with determination.  
Simon nodded. She noticed the deceased android get taken apart.  
He seemed to know she was concerned. “What you got us was good and amazing help but there's too many of us and not enough parts. We have to survive.”  
“I’ll scavenge the city. I want to help.”  
“I can’t stop you. Just know if you get hurt or caught we can’t really help. Not that we don’t want to.”  
She nodded.  
“Was there a reason you came to find me?”  
She nodded. “North. My name’s North.”  
“Hello North.” He held out his hand.  
She stared at it and mimicked his action. It was just a hand shake.  
“Thank you for your help North.”


End file.
